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John Henson
John Paul Henson (April 25, 1965 - February 14, 2014) was a performer, craftsman and co-owner of The Jim Henson Company. He was the fourth of Jim and Jane Henson's children. As a child, Henson appeared in his father's Numerosity films for Sesame Street as a boy showcasing "10 bells" and in the film "Memories" for Bufferin as the narrator's son. Henson told biographer Brian Jay Jones that he was "a strange kid" with "an endless energy." According to Henson, "if you look at the old home movies, everyone's around and ever once in a while you'd see this little blond blur just careen through the frame; that was me. I was just always going―and the faster the better."1 In an October 1987 interview with the Washington Post, Jim Henson spoke of his children and their work within the company; of John, Henson said: "John, the second youngest, does some work with us in New York, performing some of the big characters we do, such as Sweetums." By the late 1980s, Henson had taken over performing the body suit puppetry for Sweetums as Richard Hunt had become physically unable to do so. Hunt continued performing the dialogue for Sweetums until his passing in 1992, after which Henson took over the character completely. Henson performed the part in Muppet*Vision 3D, with the dialogue looped by Hunt. In appearances after Hunt's death, such as the featured role in Muppet Treasure Island, Henson supplied both the puppetry and the voice. Henson was the primary performer of Sweetums for over a decade; his last performance of the character was for The Muppets' Wizard of Oz in 2005. The character has since transitioned to other performers. In addition to his performances in television and film projects, Henson made live appearances as Sweetums for a number of events, including: a 1992 musical tribute to Jim Henson at the Lincoln Center in Armonk, New York; throughout the MuppetFest weekend in 2001; and at the unveiling ceremony for Kermit the Frog's star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. Henson also made appearances in the original Coca-Cola Polar Bear suit built by the Creature Shop for Coca-Cola public relations tours, which sometimes involved the bear sledding and skiing. After Jim Henson's death in 1990, John, along with his brother and sisters, became a shareholder and active board member in The Jim Henson Company. He stayed involved in the company until his death in 2014. Home design and sculptures Cheryl Henson described her brother as an "artist who also loved working the land."2 Biographer Brian Jay Jones described Henson, stating: "he was more of an artist. He renovated a turn-of-the-century schoolhouse, making every surface in the house interesting and beautiful. He had his dad's mentality in that he was so detail-oriented."3 In the early 1980s, at the age of 16, Henson bought an old school house in Saugerties, New York with his friend John Kahn. As an artist, fabricator, inventor and engineer, Kahn trained Henson in the arts of home building, furniture design, and sculpture. These disciplines would become Henson's primary trade and life's work. He became "a master in three-dimensional spatial design"4 and owned and developed many properties in Saugerties that reflected his unique design aesthetics. A 2014 statement from the Jim Henson Company described Henson's work in Saugerties, stating: "each of his buildings is an art project, an immersive experience balancing function with artistic expression. His exterior, and fine interior work, utilizing a wide range of materials; from wood, to metal, to stone, created rooms of exquisite embracing craftsmanship."4 In the early 1980s, Henson, along with John Kahn, helped design and renovate the Henson Townhouse in New York and Jim Henson's personal residence in upstate New York.5 Henson and Kahn designed and built "The Great Hot Air Balloon Circus" to decorate the spiral staircase of the townhouse where the company was headquartered at the time. The large hanging sculpture began in the lobby at the base of the spiral staircase and continued up to the fourth floor. It consists of wire, wood, and metal, as well as PVC figures of the Muppets. The sculpture later went on display between the first and second floors of the flagship World of Disney store on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 2004. It remained there until the store closed; its current whereabouts are unknown. Another of John Henson's sculptures welcomes visitors to the company's current New York workshop. Made of brass and other metallic, moving parts, the piece was based on one of his father's own sketches. Muppeteer Credits *''Inner Tube'' *''Muppet*Vision 3D: Sweetums (puppeteer only) *City Kids'' *''Muppet Treasure Island: Sweetums, Island Head *Muppets Tonight: Sweetums'' *''Muppets from Space: Sweetums, Lew Zealand (puppeteer), Rizzo the Rat (puppeteer) *The Muppet Show Live: Sweetums *It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'': Sweetums, Rat *The Muppets' Wizard of Oz: Sweetums Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppets Tonight Paula Abdul part 3.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos MuppetVision 3D part 8.png|John Henson with Jim Henson Frank Oz Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppet Treasure Island part 1.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppet Treasure Island part 8.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppet Treasure Island part 10.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppet Treasure Island part 11.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppet Treasure Island part 15.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppet Treasure Island part 22.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppets from Space part 9.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos Muppets from Space part 11.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes Muppets from Space part 18.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes Muppets from Space part 19.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie part 1.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie part 2.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie part 3.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie part 8.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki Behind the scenes It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie part 11.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos The Muppets' Wizard of Oz part 9.png|John Henson with Muppet wiki behind the scenes photos The Muppets' Wizard of Oz part 12.png|John Henson with Muppet ideas credits * Muppets Tonight future seasons * The Muppets 2000 Presentation Pilot: Sweetums * The Muppets (tv series 2000): Sweetums * Muppets 2007 Presentation Pilot: Sweetums * The Muppets (tv series 2007): Sweetums Category:Muppeteers